Pressure ulcer prevention

The solution: Smart pressure ulcer prevention

Our solution provides continuous insight into the position and movements of the patient. We use this information to give smart guidance to nurses, involve the patients in repositioning, and provide overview to wound specialists. In this way, it is possible to reduce pressure ulcer incidence with more than 50%.

The solution is build up in two parts: a sensor that is placed beneath the matress and a control unit. The sensors are invisible and thin, which means the patient cannot feel the sensors. The control unit is placed next to the bed, either at the head or foot end. This control unit runs our algorithms to present caregivers with the right information. We can know the presence of the patient in bed, posture (left side, right side, back), and activity level. The control unit also serves as an interface to the nurses and other caregivers. Both the sensor and the control unit are illustrated below.

Control unit

Sensor

The benefits

Improve quality of care

Reduce patient suffering

Monitor protocol compliance

Reduce pressure ulcer incidence

Reduce healthcare cost

Reduce time spent on

Prevention

Treatment

Administration

Reduce spending on

Woundcare materials

Preventive materials

Reduce workload for nurses

Avoid overtreatment

Less wound treatment

Reduce administration

The problem: pressure ulcers

Pressure ulcers are still a major problem in healthcare, causing patient suffering, increased expenditure and a higher workload for healthcare staff. Annually, over €15 billion is spent on pressure ulcers in the EU. This means that prevention is key to improving healthcare.

The best prevention method is regularly changing the posture of the patient. However, this method has a big problem: there is no information about the posture and movements of the patient over time. This can result in overtreatment and undertreatment. When repositioning is not done often enough, the chances are high that a pressure ulcer will develop. When repositioning is done too often, this takes up valuable time of the nurse and causes inconvenience to the patient.